Carrickfergus Community Orchard

We’ve teamed up again with Positive Carrickfergus throughout February and March 2022 to restore a community orchard in Carrickfergus, transforming it from an over-grown litter-and-pest-infested area to a beautiful natural habitat, with free fruit available for anyone who wants it.

With support from Mid and East Antrim Borough Council and a small amount of funding from Co-operative Alternatives, we received expert training on how to properly prune and maintain the fruit trees in the orchard, which unfortunately had suffered from several years of neglect. After several weekends of clearing, cleaning, mulching and pruning, the area is unrecognisable. Several passers-by remarked that they had often walked in the area without realising it was an orchard and were excited to see (and taste!) the free fruit available there for all to enjoy.

Now that the orchard has been restored to a useable state, the council will maintain the grounds, volunteers from Positive Carrickfergus will continue to maintain the trees and Eco Rangers NI will ensure the area remains litter free.